Rogue drone causes power outage, library evacuation in Mountain View

An unidentified man lost control of his drone, which he was flying illegally, in Mountain View, California on Thursday night, causing a major power outage before fleeing in a white hatchback, according to what witnesses told police.

The ensuing power outage lasted three hours, costing the city tens of thousands of dollars in repairs and affecting about 1,600 residents. Out of caution, the Mountain View city library also had to be evacuated:

The resulting power outage lasted until shortly after 11 pm, and impacted areas including City Hall and the city library, the latter of which had to be evacuated out of an abundance of caution. The damage of the drone crash totaled tens of thousands of dollars, and the repair work was completed early Friday morning.

drones are fun until someone flies one into high-voltage power lines, causing 1600 people in my neighborhood to lose power

“When our officers arrived on scene, we were told by witnesses that a white adult man with white hair had been flying a drone in the area – which is not permitted – and the drone subsequently crashed into a high-voltage wire.”

I think we’ve found our man.

According to FAA regulations, flying a drone within a five-mile radius of an airport, near people, or into surrounding obstacles is illegal.

About Jesse Kramer

Jesse is a writer and editor for The Comeback. He has also worked for SI.com and runs The Catch and Shoot, a college basketball website based in Chicago. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow Jesse on Twitter @Jesse_Kramer.